Biologist urges schools to take children outdoors

Children should receive more biology teaching outdoors instead of sitting in front of screens learning abstract concepts they do not understand, biologist Magnus Gaard told KVF.

It is progress that a new nature protection law came into force in 2024 and that more is now being done to document Faroese nature, Gaard said in the fourth episode of the radio series “Oyggjar undir trýsti”. But he said these measures were not enough and that public knowledge about nature also needed to increase.

“People generally care about what they know, and we should ensure that people develop a closer relationship with nature,” he said.

Gaard said children in Faroese primary schools used to spend much more time outdoors learning about plants and animals. They now often work with a textbook or sit in front of a screen studying abstract concepts they do not understand.

“It is much more important for them to experience how a skaldabrobber smells, or how marsh marigolds can colour a ditch bright yellow. Children need those experiences,” Gaard said.

Nature as more than mechanics

The series “Oyggjar undir trýsti” has examined whether too much nature is disappearing in the Faroe Islands because of development and demands for growth.

Gaard said that in the past, nature was respected as nature, and people had a clear sense that a special life force existed in living things. Today, he said, that spirit had almost been removed from nature and people had begun to view it as mechanics.

“If you look at a cell under a microscope, you can see that it struggles and has its own will. We can also see plants making water flow upwards. In itself, that is remarkable,” he said.

“I think we should pay more attention to nature, because when we do, it is because nature in one way or another resembles our own lives,” Gaard said.